As was the case during the previous years, this tourist season was too short, and the coast was overcrowded, said dean of Budva’s Faculty for Business and Tourism professor Rade Ratkovic. President of Montenegro’s Tourist Association Zarko Radulovic said that there was a lack in communal order, cleanliness and noise.
The crowds
“The infrastructure was insufficient, there was too much noise, too many hospitality facilities, that were almost blocking foot traffic in old cities… A positive was that the structure is slowly changing in the benefit of western and organized market, which should be encouraged by management and responsible measures of tourist policies”, Ratkovic said.
The new marketing strategy of Montenegro’s tourist offer should set up such measures. In order for a tourist season to be better, Ratkovic said we need a new model of organization of management, so that everything could be organized in a timely manner.
“It’s high time we stop reconstruction and infrastructure projects in the midst of tourist season (between April and November), and that the organization of tourist cities rises to a level of our neighbouring Mediterranean tourist destinations”, Ratkovic said.
We also need to foster growing tourist offers in the north, mountainous region of Montenegro.
“Agrotourism opens great chances for valorization of potential for production of traditional organic food, so that tourism can be developed along rural agriculture, which would open thousands of new work spots, improve quality of the total offer of Montenegro’s tourism and enable the necessary process of stopping depopulation of the continental part of Montenegro”, Ratkovic said.
Management
New model of destination management should overcome current chaos of tourist informational system that builds information on estimates, not on data of tourist revenue. It looks for tourists on borders, train and bus stations, instead in hotels, agencies, tourist bureaus.
“We must remember that a tourist is defined as a person who spends at least 24 hours in a registered or private forms of accommodation, with tourist motivation”, Ratkovic said.
Zarko Radulovic said that we need more order when it comes to cleanliness and noise, as well as taxi services.
“The problem with taxi drivers has escalated compared to last year. It is a very difficult problem to solve on the level of local self-government”, Radulovic said.
“I hope the visa regime changes and some markets open up towards us. We are here to strive to the maximum”, Radulovic said.
